Work / ShelterBox
A volunteer platform for ShelterBox Canada
ShelterBox gives emergency shelter to families after disasters. In Canada, four staff members manage a growing network of volunteers, and keeping those volunteers engaged was getting harder. My team designed a new volunteer portal, a growth strategy, and a plan for the organizational changes needed to run it.
The problem
Volunteers were leaving because they didn't feel connected to each other, and four staff couldn't build that connection by hand.
Our research, including a heuristic review of the existing volunteer portal, pointed to one idea: build a real community among volunteers, and update the portal to support it.
"To address the challenge of volunteer retention with the ShelterBox platform, the solution lies in building a strong community among volunteers, supported by an updated volunteer portal that promotes engagement."
Our vision statement
What we did
- User research. Interviewed volunteers and ran a heuristic evaluation of the current portal.
- Product-led growth strategy. Designed three flywheel models for attracting and keeping volunteers.
- Prototype. Built a high-fidelity prototype of a WordPress portal with community features and gamification.
- Scaling plan. Wrote a go-to-market plan that grows through partnerships with other NGOs.
- Leadership framework. Set out four principles to help the organization make the change.
Goals
Build a stronger community
Give volunteers dedicated spaces to meet and work together.
Communicate in real time
Add messaging and chat so volunteers can coordinate and help each other.
Encourage collaboration
Match volunteers by skill and pair experienced volunteers with new ones as mentors.
Personalize the experience
Offer customizable dashboards and content based on each volunteer's interests.
Make it easy and rewarding
Use a simple design, with game-like rewards to encourage people to come back.
Keep volunteers longer
Use recognition, progress tracking, and clear next steps for volunteers.
Prototype
A WordPress volunteer portal with custom community features. The interactive prototype shows profiles, community feeds, events, rewards, and collaboration tools.
Profiles
Skills, interests, achievements, and a personal dashboard.
Recognition
Badges, points, leaderboards, and achievement tracking.
Tasks & events
A shared calendar for shifts, events, and volunteer opportunities.
Messaging
In-app messages, group chat, and community forums.
Security & privacy
Two-factor sign-in, role-based access, and privacy controls.
Analytics
A dashboard that tracks engagement and volunteer activity.
Built on WordPress with plugins for rewards, an interest finder, an event calendar, messaging, and notifications.
Leadership principles
A new portal only works if the organization can run it. We gave ShelterBox four principles for making the change.
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Add technical capacity
Free staff from technical work so they can focus on growing the organization.
- Hire a part-time IT professional to manage the portal.
- Set up a rotating support team of volunteers with IT backgrounds, and mentor them.
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Communicate openly
Bring volunteers and leadership closer together.
- Share key challenges and how decisions get made.
- Send an email newsletter and ask volunteers for feedback.
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Build communities around skills
Use what volunteers already know to fill ShelterBox's resource gaps.
- Record volunteers' skills, hobbies, and interests.
- Start groups for graphic design, photography, coding, and public speaking.
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Decide with data
Track donations, recruitment, and engagement.
- Define metrics before launch.
- Use free tools such as Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity, supported by a data analytics intern.
Roadmap
| 0–6 months | 6–12 months | 12+ months |
|---|---|---|
| Get budget approval for the IT role and write the job description | Start a mentorship program and recruit volunteers to fill resource gaps | Build the volunteer portal |
| Define key metrics for the scaling plan | Hire the IT professional | Move the newsletter onto a community page |
| Launch the ShelterBox newsletter | Test free analytics tools and confirm the architecture | Put the scaling strategies into action |
| Survey volunteers to measure satisfaction (NPS) | Write a detailed implementation plan | Run follow-up surveys and expand to other NGO partners |
Projected results
These are the targets the platform was designed to reach. They are projections, not measured results.
- 40%more volunteers retained
- 60%higher engagement
- 50%less time between portal visits
- 35%less volunteer churn
What I learned
- Motivation comes first. Volunteers stay for connection and purpose, so the product has to support both.
- Design within the constraints. A four-person team needs solutions that fit its budget and staff.
- Changing an organization takes care. At a charity, people accept change when it clearly serves the mission.
- Design for all ages. Personalization let the same product work for young adults and retired professionals.
- Growth works differently at a charity. Growth strategies built for businesses had to be adapted for recruiting and keeping volunteers.